2014-2010 Strategic Plan email

Dear Colleagues:

This past Friday's Board of Visitors meeting was the culmination of an 18-month long process of developing JMU's new strategic plan for 2014-2020.

It was a process that involved hundreds of faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends and was informed by the input of hundreds and hundreds more. From the very beginning, we have wanted our strategic planning process to be inclusive because we knew that the best plan for our university would be the result of community and collaboration. I'm very proud of the result.

If you were involved in any way with the Madison Future Commission, I offer my sincerest thanks. I know it was a significant investment of time and passion. Your hard work certainly shows in the final result.

When the Board approved the new vision, values, core qualities and goals, it marked the beginning of an exciting new phase in our future together.

It starts with our new vision: To be the national model of the engaged university; engaged with ideas and the world. That idea of engagement will be in sharp focus for us as we create the future of JMU. Many have mentioned how excited they are about that vision and have also suggested that we provide more detail on what that will look like specifically. So, I have commissioned a task force that is currently at work painting a word picture of what "engagement" means for us. As their work concludes in the next month, we'll be sure to communicate clearly and frequently.

I also invite you to visit our planning website - http://www.jmu.edu/jmuplans. There you will find everything you need regarding the plan, including all of the new core qualities, their history and key goals. Over time, we'll also be adding key objectives as they are developed so you will have access to a clear picture of the plan as it evolves.

And that's where we are now - rolling up our sleeves to develop objectives and action steps in support of our key goals. What we have is a framework, but the true difference-making work will happen as colleges, schools and departments begin carrying out new objectives in support of our core qualities and goals. We'll use the plan to focus resources as best we can toward those objectives that support our vision and core qualities.

Finally, I want always to bring the focus back to our mission - We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives. That's the reason we exist and the highest purpose of our strategic planning process.